The Frugal Student: Get Microsoft Office 2010 for $80
The Frugal Student is a weekly column on personal finance for students, brought to you by Chuck over at The Thrifty Lifestyle. Check out TheThriftyLifestyle.com for more frugal tips!
Money is often tight in college, and so students have developed many creative ways to save money. Unfortunately between productivity software like Microsoft Office and media software like Photoshop, computer software is often a big expense for students. Luckily software...

The language learning community has always been a huge proponent of the idea of immersion. In its most extreme form, this means relocating to The Netherlands (à la Benny of Fluent in 3 Months), but for most students, it involves using Facebook in French, listening to Spanish music or podcasts, or watching Inspector Rex without the subtitles.
There’s no reason, though, that you can’t incorporate this premise into other...

Even after the explosive growth of netbooks in 2008, it seems that these ultra-compact and inexpensive laptops have failed to penetrate the student market. Instead, most students with computers stick to an Apple MacBook or a Windows-based computer from one of the big manufacturers (Dell, Sony, HP) or go to class with no laptop at all. You rarely see a student using a netbook. Despite their underuse in the classroom, netbooks,...

As a student in high school or college, getting your first car is an incredibly exciting and potentially life-changing event. However, since students generally do not have experience purchasing cars, it’s a good idea to do some research on how to get the best bang for your buck. To help you in this endeavor, here are some useful car buying tips for students.
1. Cars actually cost more than just their purchase price. You...

Having graduated from college only a short time ago, I often reflect fondly on my academic and personal trials while navigating the complicated and exhausting world of the university student. As an entering freshman, one aspect of academics of which I was completely ignorant was the ability to ask for an extension on an academic paper.
This practice, in my high school experience, was completely unheard of, and I was...

In last week’s Ultimate Guide to Sleeping Better and Waking Up Easier, we briefly mentioned sleeping gadgets such as Clocky to help people sleep or wake up better. After seeing the response I decided to follow up with a list of the top 10 sleep-related gadgets to buy. All of these products are on the shelf, so no concept design products, however cool they may be, made it onto this list.
Clocky: The Alarm Clock on...

Most students can’t afford to fly off to Europe after their semester is over. It’s much more likely that they will head out on the open road for a little vacation with their friends. Saving money on your student road trip will be a lot easier by using some of the following tips.
Hit up the grocery store
Avoid the fast food restaurants and gas station cuisine. Try to stop at as many grocery stores as you can find...

There is one thing that students wrestle with continually over their four years at university. It’s a slow, drawn out, down-hill struggle: sleep. We are always seeking more or better sleep, and ways to wake up in the morning without feeling like we’ve been hit with a truck. We’ve written a couple of times on the subject of sleep at Gearfire. We’ll it’s time to sum it all up into a go-to reference...

As you’re all gearing up for first semester in a couple weeks, take a look at some “buried wisdom” from the deep, carvernous archives of Gearfire.
Why You Need to Ask for Help as Soon as You Need It – Definitely something to keep in mind going into the new semester, especially for freshmen. It is super easy to fall behind, and if you don’t ask for help when you are confused, it will only get...